There are 1,338 shopping centres in Australia ranging from large regional centres of more than 100,000 square metres of retail space and generating sales of around $500 million a year down to smaller, supermarket based centres of around 5,000 square metres generating sales around $30 million.

Shopping centres are large employers of Australians. All up, around 475,000 people are employed in shopping centres. That’s 5.5% or 1 in 20 of the Australian workforce.

Shopping centres paid $7.3 billion in wages in 1999. Much of this money was earned by people who live in the local neighbourhood. 50% of young Australians get their first work experience in the retail industry.

Shopping centres are productive. They account for 28% of the retail space in Australia yet generate 41% of retail sales.

Shopping centres are popular. Some of the larger centres attract well over 15 million shopper visits per year. Across Australia, there are 1.75 billion shopper visits each year. That means, on average, each Australian visits a shopping centre twice a week.

Shopping centres provide a platform for small business. There are nearly 55,000 specialty stores in Australian shopping centres. Nearly half - 47% - are owned and operated by independent traders.

Shopping centres underwrite the retirement incomes of many Australians. It’s estimated 9 million Australian have invested in retail property through their superannuation savings and their investments in listed property trusts and property backed life insurance policies.

The ownership of shopping centres is broadly held. The top 30 owners share 52% of total shopping centre floorspace. Compared to other major industries – eg telecommunications, airlines, banking – this is an unusually broad spread of ownership.